Eric Boon’s Fen Tiger Rampage
On December 15, 1938, Eric Boon stopped Dave Crowley in the thirteenth round to become British lightweight champion. The teenager from Chatteris followed that breakthrough by stopping Arthur Danahar in the fourteenth round of his first title defense on February 23, 1939.
Career Milestones and Fight Results
The title win made the 18-year-old Boon a national name. In a small town, his success became a local event as well as a sporting one: accounts from the period describe supporters following him to fights and celebrations greeting him on his return. His first defense came against Arthur Danahar at Harringay Arena on February 23, 1939. Boon kept the belt with a stoppage in the fourteenth round, extending his standing as the country’s leading lightweight.
That defense reached an audience far beyond the arena. The BBC sent television cameras to Harringay, and the fight was also shown live on large screens in London cinemas. Television historian John Wyver identifies the screening as the first BBC television transmission shown live to paying cinema audiences. The distinction matters: it was a landmark in the history of television and sport, without being the first boxing match ever televised.
Boon’s championship years were not confined to the famous Danahar night. In July 1939 he met Len Wickwar in Leicester in a non-title contest. Wickwar was one of the most active fighters of his generation, and Boon stopped him in the ninth round. The surviving British Pathé footage of that bout, embedded here, offers a rare moving-image glimpse of Boon at work as champion.
Boon held the British lightweight title into the wartime years, with the record books listing his reign through 1944. His legacy rests on the combination of a remarkable rise from Chatteris, a sustained run at the top of the domestic division, and a place in a broadcast that carried boxing from a packed arena into homes and cinemas.
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Eric Boon, Boxing, Championship Fights, Boxing History
